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Keighley & Worth Valley Railway transforms into 5-mile beer and music festival

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Over the weekend, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway was transformed into a 5-mile-long beer and music festival, an annual event hosted by railway volunteers.

The event chooses to highlight local beer and food venders to help support community businesses.

Festival Secretary, Erin Dark, said: "You don't often see many beer festivals on a railway that is heritage with stations that have been preserved as to what they were so it's an interesting mix of the two."

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A steam train coming into Oxenhope station. There is a lot greenery on the left side of the tracks and it is a clear day with blue skies. On the end of the platform stands a woman carrying a young child and a gentleman beside them, watching the train come in
Most of the trains operating over the weekend had bars so guests could enjoy different beverages whilst travelling

Approximately 30 groups and solo artists from across the country took part in the event, performing a wide range of music genres, from pop and rock to jazz and country.

The Leeds City Stompers, a vintage blues band, performed at the festival.

Band member, Martyn Roper, said: "What I tried to do today was squeeze in any song that had anything to do with trains in it, and when people have had three beers, that makes a lot of sense to them, and that's wonderful."

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he Leeds City Stompers band performing at Oxenhope station. There is a bass player on the left, the drummer is in the middle at the back of the stage, and the guitarist is positioned on the right
The Leeds City Stompers specialise in a range of music genres from 1920s, 30s & 40s blues to ragtime, swing and country

The festival's main site was at Oxenhope but attendees had the chance to travel to Ingrow and Keighley via steam train.

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An old, dark red coloured steam train getting ready to depart from Oxenhope station. There are people
Festival goers could travel along the Worth Valley railway line

With over 120 alcoholic beverages to try across the sites, there was something for everyone.

Alongside beers, guests could also visit the specialist cider bar at Oxenhope which stocked over 30 different ciders from across the UK, including draught ciders on keg and fruit ciders.

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An image of three festival workers/volunteers walking down the platform at Oxenhope station with their backs to the camera. On the left is a gentleman wearing a "beer and music festival volunteer" t-shirt. In the middle is a young man wearing a black coat who works on the trains. On the right is the Station Foreman
The main festival site was at Oxenhope in the Exhibition Hall, where the main bar was located, with around 90 different cask-conditioned ales

Steven Jones, Oxenhope's Station Foreman, said: "We have people visiting from Scotland, from Carlisle, from down in the Midlands, and London. It's a super effort. There's people coming and staying for the weekend to visit."

Preparations are already underway for next year's festival.